New owners at Daylesford Hotel

The Daylesford Hotel has new owners. Sommelier Anne-Marie Banting, who has just finished up at the Lake House restaurant, and whose CV also lists Taxi and Est Est Est, has joined forces with friend Graham Bamford, who founded the Galleon Cafe in St Kilda, and ran it for 17 years. The pair take the keys to the grand 1913 hotel on February 1. ''We want to create an iconic pub with great hospitality,'' Banting says. They'll renovate the front of the hotel, adding a dining room serving ''modern bistro classics with a regional accent'' and a front bar offering pub classics such as seafood baskets and burgers. Banting and Bamford have not yet secured a chef, but plan to reopen in early March.